________ ________ ________ 2025-10-19 / \/ \/ / \ / __/ /_ _/ I made a post on Fedi a little ways back / _/ / / about stealing scents from stores that got a \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_ little attention so I thought I'd do a / \/ \/ / \ proper write up for it. it's something I do / _/ /_ _/ but never really thought about explaining /- / _/ / properly but I jokingly referred to it as \________/\________/\___/____/ part of a kind of imaginary Anarchist's Style Guide. think of it as a spiritual successor to The Anarchis Cook Book but more about grooming, hygiene and styling and less about fuckin' with McDonalds. it's no secret nerds smell horrible. if you've ever been to a convention of any kind, be it anime, gaming, cybersec, or software industry, you know these dudes can reek. it's normal for a human to stink, women generally figure it out first and manage it, boys are a little slower to get the memo and a little lazier with how they handle it (see: Lynx/Axe body spray), some men will just stick with that their whole life, some men just will never learn and geeks/nerds, be they male or female, generally never have any interest in learning. their minds are occupied. that's not to disparage any of those groups, it's just observation of a truth. not the whole truth, there's always exceptions and I'm a good example of that. I'm a hardcore geek, I started going to anime cons, hacker meetups and metal/punk/whatever gigs in like 2002 and didn't stop until probably TDK was born in 2021. I also grew up with a single mom and a sister and, while most of my high school peers were more interested in sports and video games, a keen interest in the opposite sex. this means grooming and styling was something I wanted in my toolset, something I worked on to put myself ahead of the pack, as it were. smelling good should be a human right but it's not and these days is a straight up hurdle, everything is so expensive and not just the high end scents. my off the shelf at Walmart deodorant when I lived in Washington State ran me US$14 which is obscene. in the end I just shoplifted that shit because I couldn't afford it. I don't consider that scentjacking though because it was straight up theft hahaha. theft for survival, theft from a huge corporate monster, but theft nonetheless. scentjacking isn't theft, it's an abuse of the rules which makes it way better. there's a little prep work to do and then two easy methods to start smellin' correct. Scentjacking! 0.1 first you'll need to find a store you like with staff you are comfortable talking to. don't be shy, don't feel awkward if it's someone of the opposite sex, they're sales people and they're good at their job. tell them what you're interested in, ask them questions and let them show you testers. this is your research store, if you get lucky this might be all you need. 0.2 if your research store won't give you a sample (1.1) then you'll need a second store, this is your target store, they'll need to have the scent you like and staff that will be willing to make one for you (1.2) or a tester bottle on the showroom floor (2.0). if you're scentjacking then a bustling, busy store is best, a store with discreet nooks and crannies in its perfume section is good too, a store with both is ideal. 0.3 if neither your research store or your target store will let you have a sample when asked then it gets more tricky, this is the jacking in scentjacking, you'll need a refillable pocket perfume bottle like this[1]. pay attention to the product, it needs to have an airlock valve on the bottom for filling, it can't just be a bottle fill because you'll spend too much time in the store fiddling with caps and, invariably, you'll make a smelly mess. 1.1 sometimes it's just as simple as that! if you find a store you like with a scent you like and the staff are amicable, you can just ask for a sample bottle. they'll make you up a little 5ml sample bottle on the spot and that should last you a few months at least. the tiniest dab goes a long way. 1.2 sometimes you'll find a scent you like but your research store won't do samples, that's fine. spritz a little on your person and find your target store and ask them. this is also a really great method. if you walk in already smelling great and ask for a sample, they clock you as shopping around, they want your business and you can say with honest you already have a sample on your skin from somewhere else and want to try this one later. this method and method 1.1 are generally how I get by, they're out here to separate you from your money and will gladly entertain you if they think you'll be back with wallet in hand. 2.1 sometimes asking won't work, some stores are a bit snooty about samples, some staff won't be interested in giving you any of their time, sometimes they'll just be wary of people taking samples and never coming back (ie. us). this is where scentjacking proper comes in. 2.2 if you've gotten this far, you should have identified a scent you like at your research store (0.1) and a target store with the same scent (0.2) and have a refillable perfume bottle ready to go (0.3). 2.3 find your scent on the showroom floor, and casually feign interest, look like you're shopping, keep one eye on your target and the other one peeled for staff. don't let other shoppers bother you, most of them are glued to their phones and the rest are too occupied or oblivious to notice you, as long as you just look and behave like another shopper and don't do anything unusual around staff you're invisible. 2.4 when the coast is clear, when you've got cover from people nearby, pull the spray cap off the tester bottle, put your refillable bottle's airlock valve over the tester bottle tube and pump like your life depends on it, those little bottles will fill up FAST so make sure you're on the ball and don't overfill. a tight seal is important because if you're sloppy, you'll start stinking up the place and blow your cover. it's also not necessary to fill the bottle completely, a few pumps from the sample will last you close to a year on your skin. 2.5 escape! place the cap back on the tester bottle if you can just to be discreet but if you have to leg it in a hurry don't feel bad about leaving the cap next to the bottle, staff or another shopper will see it and put it back on. drop the refillable bottle in your pocket or palm it in your hand, be careful to not do this casually so as not to appear like you are shoplifting. a good way to add cover is to replace the cap on the tester bottle and spray some on a paper tester strip. give it a sniff because you like it already and put the paper tester strip and the palmed bottle in your pocket or bag. this is normal shopper behavior and will earn you smiles from the staff more often than raising any eyebrows, if you get noticed at all. 2.5.1 what to do if you're made: plead ignorance, answer honestly. the bottle should have been marked as a tester or on a tester shelf, you didn't think there would be any harm in taking some from a tester bottle, give up your refillable perfume bottle if asked and just move on. it's not worth being indignant about. you haven't broken any laws and they have no right to detain you but if you start a scene then they can claim you're trespassing and law enforcement will be involved. let them win, walk away, it's not worth it. find a new store to use and start over. hope someone out there finds this useful, I do it all the time but like I said above, in like 99% of the cases when I ask for a sample the store staff are happy to make me up one. I've only had to scentjack with a refillable bottle twice in my life and the first time was just a test to prove the concept. smell good, look good, feel good. be well. [1] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006960491992.html EOF